Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Exciting, vivid read that could've been tighter and deeper., October 26, 2007
Scott Lynch's much-heralded debut leads readers on a dashing thief tale in the best classic fantasy vein, through a vivid Renaissance-inspired fantasy city. Locke and his companions are clever rogues who must outwit not only their marks but also the city guard, their own underworld leaders, and a new vicious underworld faction.
The plot surges into high gear in the second act with the appearance of this new faction, which could have been introduced sooner. The Grey King and especially his mage are so shockingly well-informed and powerful that Locke seems helpless against them. This keeps the reader turning the pages, but it also makes Locke's eventual victory seem implausible and rushed.
The climax abandons the clever thief scheming in favor of a super-villain plot out of a James Bond movie. The villain's plan is far-fetched and poorly justified, Locke's response is oddly benevolent, and the other characters' reactions to him are unrealistic bordering on authorial wish-fulfillment.
The constant interlude chapters covering Locke and Jean's boyhood distract from the exciting heist plot. Lynch does relate them to the present story, but this material could have been shown more quickly and less disruptively in short flashbacks. In addition, the narrative's shallow point-of-view makes the characters feel distant. Only their most basic internal reactions and emotions are described in a point-of-view that shifts through different characters in the same scene, includes constant descriptions of the point-of-view character's own facial expressions, and artificially hides from the reader much information that the point-of-view characters obviously know. This leaves them feeling shallow, like movie characters on a screen rather than fully internalized novel characters.
Lynch's strengths, the vivid setting and his constant heaping of conflict onto his characters, pull the reader through this ripping thief yarn. But _Lies_ is less than it could have been if the novel had gone deeper into both the personalities of his heroes and the justifications of his villain.
|
|
|
124 of 146 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lynch's talent is bigger than this story, August 14, 2006
THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA is a fairly-well-hyped fantasy debut about the charismatic leader of a gang of con artists in a city that does (or tries to do) for renaissance Venice what PERDIDO STREET STATION did for Dickensian London. Overall, I enjoyed it - the prose was technically proficient, the plot hummed along efficiently, the setting was considerably more interesting than the usual plate-mail-and-offal-carts business, and there was a good deal of welcome humor. As debut novels go it's a promising start.
On the other hand, it really doesn't amount to much more than an entertaining confection. The book's apparently been optioned for a movie already, and I can see why: the dialogue's relentlessly effervescent, occasionally stretching credulity past the breaking point (characters have one-liners for every occasion even while collecting broken bones and concussions like trading cards) and the screenplay-friendly three-act structure is too often embarrassingly visible underneath the flesh of the story.
It's difficult to articulate my feelings on books like this. On the one hand, Lynch's technical talent clearly elevates him above the great gormless herd of modern fantasy writers already. And there's no denying that the book is very likeable indeed, while it seems unfair to fault it based only on what it could have been. On the other hand, it's just *too damn safe*. Lynch is going to be a major player in the genre - that much is obvious already - but he has it in him to do something Seriously Good rather than settling for being the next RA Salvatore. But it's not gonna happen until he gets over his fear of failure. PERDIDO had parts that worked and parts that didn't but Mieville wrote his ambition on every page in letters of fire, and the excitement swept me, the reader, away with him. Whereas LOCKE LAMORA felt like Lynch was parceling out his ideas and his talent and calculating every story beat based on whether it would make a good start for a franchise.
In short, it's worth the money, even if you're not big into fantasy - I'm emphatically not, aside from staples like Tolkien, Moorcock, and Martin, and I still enjoyed it. But it's not a *necessary* book.
|
|
|
49 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic start to a promising career, July 4, 2006
Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is the first book in the Gentlemen Bastards series. Not only is it the first in the Gentlemen Bastards series, but this novel happens to be the first novel published by Mr. Lynch as well. When I first heard that this was a debut novel I was slightly hesitant, but it came with a glowing recommendation so I took the chance. Let me say right off the bat that I am very thankful that I took the chance on this new author as this novel is absolutely fantastic.
There are several aspects of this novel that I think need to be reviewed.
The characters really allow this novel to stand out and shine. The characters are well developed and vivid. Each character is done in such a way that they all appear unique, anything from their look to their dialog. While Mr. Lynch has added many curse words, which at times, for me anyway, shocks the reader out of the dialog, it also seems to bring a grittiness to the characters. There are quite a few characters in this novel, but I didn't find any difficulty in keeping them separate and knowing what each was doing. The main character, who I would struggle to call a hero, is a rogue who is bent on stealing from the nobles of the cit. A Robin Hood type character if you will. Mr. Lynch goes to great detail to explain and develop Locke throughout the book, and he pulls this off very well. The other assortment of characters are developed at varying degrees. This just makes sense or else the book would be huge. In my opinion the supporting cast of characters are done perfectly, not too much and not to little. There are many truly memorable characters in this book.
The plot, on the surface anyway, seems rather simple in that the main character is a rogue set on fleecing the nobility out of their wealth. However, there are many things that Mr. Lynch tosses into the mix to make this a much more complicated story than just your typical steal from the rich story. This story follows Locke from when he was a very young boy all the way up to his involvement with the Gentlemen Bastards and the escapades that he routinely pulls on the noble class of the city. There are several twists and mysterious characters that are slowly added to add more depth to the story. Even though there are multiple elements added throughout the book they are not done so to cram things into this novel. It has a very steady pace and was obviously well mapped out. It's a well written plot and one that certainly leaves room for further development in later books.
This novel is set up in an interesting way, in fact I have not seen a novel like this to my memory. There are regular chapters, but interspaced between these chapters, or sections really, there are flashbacks or as Lynch calls them interludes. Were he harkens back to past events that helped shape the characters actions and choices. This is certainly a unique way of putting a novel together and at times it works beautifully, but there is at least one point where I read an interlude and was a little unsure why it was included in the story or at that point in the book. For the most part though, this idea works rather well and adds a certain depth to the book.
There are a few things that I wish would have been better developed, such the way magic works as well as a little more explanation of the `thirteen'. Since this is the first book in this series I expect that these things may be explained in greater detail later.
Overall, this is a fantastic book and one I am sure to recommend to many other people. It really is a gem and a surprising first release from a new author. I wonder just how good Mr. Lynch will become if this was the first release from him. I am eagerly looking forward to the second book in this series as I am sure many others will be once they give this novel a chance. Have no fear in picking this up, I think it will appease many a different fans. Certainly fantasy fans, but also others will probably like this as well.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|